DaytonDailyNews.com

COLUMBUS — Gov. Ted Strickland tried but failed to delay moving ahead with a new requirement that Ohio companies with four or more employees allow women 12 weeks of unpaid maternity leave if they demonstrate it's medically necessary.

Ohio Civil Rights Commission Chairwoman Barbara Sykes, whom Strickland appointed to the commission this year, turned down the governor.

"I think they (Civil Rights Commission) have done their due diligence and can support moving ahead with this," Sykes, a former Democratic state representative from Akron, said Friday.

Kent Markus, Strickland's chief legal counsel, this week asked Sykes to delay taking the requirement to the legislative review committee that must give its OK.

"The governor is disappointed," said Amanda Wurst, Strickland's spokeswoman. Strickland supports the requirement's goal but wanted to make sure that businesses, which oppose it, have time to fully understand it and communicate their thoughts, Wurst said.

The requirement, approved last month by the Civil Rights Commission, is on the Dec. 3 agenda of the Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review. The committee, made up of 10 legislators, reviews rules such as the requirement to make sure they don't exceed the rule-making agency's authority, that they don't conflict with other rules or the intent of the legislation authorizing the rules, and to make sure that summaries and fiscal analyses of the rules are accurate.

The new requirement would apply to all women regardless of how long they've worked for a company. Federal law now requires companies with at least 50 employees to allow new mothers who have worked at least 1,250 hours in the preceding year to take up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave.

The current Ohio requirement is that companies give women a "reasonable period of time" off, without defining "reasonable."

Contact this reporter at (614) 224-1608 or whershey@DaytonDailyNews.com.